Carter is now 11 years old! This year it was back to a pretty normal weekend birthday celebration with some familiar activities with friends. Carter had some buddies over for lunch and Mini golf and then played video games all night. Nothing better than unlimited video games on your birthday! The next day Uncle Jason surprised Carter with a trip to get ice cream in his old souped-up Trans Am.
Emery is now a whopping 7 years old! Even with the dreaded Covid, we still had a semi-outdoor party with a few friends to celebrate the occasion. The girls did some painting, pinata, cake, and wrapped up the party with some fun in the snow. After a super long 2020, it was nice to see Emery having fun with some of her buddies.
We obviously can’t have a large party with the entire family but we still luckily got to see the grandparents. Grandma/grandpa Wassmer made the long hike up from Davenport to hand-deliver some birthday goods. Grandpa and grandma Stubler are now just down the road so it was a quick trip for them to come over and say hi.
To wrap up the celebration we obviously opened presents and had an awesome meal. For the super-special family dinner, we ordered in some really good sushi from our favorite place downtown Naperville.
Our big man just hit double digits! We’re so happy that Carter got to see some of his friends for his birthday, it was a good relief from the past 3 months of isolation. The weather was awesome so most of the fun happened outside. He had a great time and obviously appreciated all the presents.
Yes, it’s true. I’m over the hill. You obviously know 40 is coming but there is something about these milestone ages that make them a little bit harder. Julie really made the weekend great which made the whole thing fly by (no pun intended).
I intended to lay low and just chill all weekend but then Julie surprised me by inviting a couple of buddies up for the weekend. Julie had a bunch of fun things planned for the day. We started off with some indoor sky diving at iFly, made a brief stop at a brewery, watched the Iowa game at dinner, slung some axes at an ax-throwing place, and then wrapped up the night at a few bars in Naperville. Overall a super awesome surprise for such an old guy like me.
The icing on the cake was wrapping up the weekend with dinner and presents with Julie, Carter, and Emery. The best part of getting older is sharing time with them and seeing the kids grow up.
Emery is a big 6-year-old this week! She had a super fun party at an indoor soccer field where the kids played games for an hour before getting all hopped up on sugar. Emery was so tuckered out she passed out on the way home!
I can’t believe that Emery is now 5 years old! She had a neat cooking party this weekend to celebrate, here are some pictures.
I took Julie to go see her other boyfriend for her birthday. Justin Timberlake sure knows how to put on show! The best part was Emery’s favorite song which he saved for the very end… Can’t stop the feeling!!
Even though it was 100+ outside, it did not keep us indoors. Carter kicked off the weekend with a baseball game Saturday morning, followed by his birthday party in the afternoon. On Sunday, Carter and Emery had a blast shooting some rockets off with the Boy Scouts.
Little man is 8 years old!
Emery had a fantastic gymnastics birthday party this year. What can be more fun than bouncing around on trampolines and launching into ball pits with all of your friends?
Today Emery turns 4 years old! She is growing up waaayyyy too fast. We look forward to celebrating her birthday tonight with a special birthday dinner and ice cream (her choice).
Yesterday she was invited to a friends house for her very first Tea Party with some friends from school. All the girls put on fancy dresses for this fancy lunch.
It was a little early in the month but we had a nice annual birthday dinner with the Stubler’s to celebrate Grandpa Stubler and me getting older.
Saturday, started off in the best way with Carter scoring his very first game gooooaaallll in soccer. I’m so proud of the kid, he has really been working his butt off so it was great to see it finally pay off.
There was a little game (the Super Bowl) that helped us wrap up the weekend. Unfortunately, our party got canceled, but made our own party at home and had a blast watching it as a family on the big screen.
Emery is officially three years old. She is such a little miracle, that it is hard to believe all of the craziness that we (mostly Julie) had to go through to bring her into this world. It’s been such a gift to be her dad, and I have loved every minute of it. Onward we go! I think its time we try for another – psych! 🙂 (Just wanted to see who actually reads this)
P.S. She had a gymnastics party and a ballerina theme.
Emery had her very first friend birthday party today and it was a super fun swim party. It was good practice for her very first swim lesson the next day.
Emery is growing up so fast. She is now navigating the house so well that we took down the baby gates. It is nice to be able to move around the house without having to jump over obstacles. The other thing that she is getting good at is using the big girl potty. It’s just a matter of time before we pull the trigger and quit diapers cold-turkey.
Emery’s vocabulary is growing too. Her new favorite thing to say is “I do it.” From putting on her coat to picking out her own cup, she always needs to be doing it herself. Although she can’t do it all, she loves having ponytails in and her boots on. Love her!
Last weekend Carter had a Lego birthday party at the Naperville Park District. Carter and all his friends had a blast with the various Lego building contests. From Lego boat building to guessing the number of bricks in a jar. To top off all the fun each kid got a Lego Mixel gift to take home and bulid.
Happy birthday Carter! What better way is there to celebrate a 5 year old’s birthday than a Lego birthday cake and a family cookout.
The cold rainy weather didn’t keep a 100 volunteers from coming out for Comcast Cares Day this year. My family decided to stay home, but I braved the weather to help cleanup and mulch a forest preserve in Naperville.
On Sunday, Carter went to a birthday party for Nathan, a friend from school. It was at Players indoor sports center where the kids played a bunch of great games like tag and soccer…. and of course had yummy pizza and cake.
Also, here is a video I made for the party. It captures moments from Emery’s first year.
One year ago, after a long struggle, we were finally blessed with our baby girl.
Emery is so proud of herself, you can see it in her face after she does something new. She now walks, hugs, climbs, and sometimes even wrestles with me. She is already off of formula and very soon moving off of bottles. What a big girl…
Happy first birthday, Emery! Your mom, brother and I love you so much and are so thankful you’ve made our family perfectly complete.
